Meng Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen returned to the most luxurious residential hall within the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy and found their grandfather, Jing Hongchen, working at the desk.
"Grandpa, we're back!"
"Hello, Grandpa."
Seeing his beloved grandchildren come home, Jing Hongchen set down his pen and beamed with joy.
"How was it? You both look pretty happy. Did anything interesting happen? Come, tell Grandpa all about it."
The siblings sat down on the sofa to Jing Hongchen's right. The chatty Meng Hongchen eagerly spoke up.
"Grandpa, guess what? Over at the snack street, we saw the special admitted student you recommended... was it Huo Yuhao? He was selling grilled fish there, and it actually tasted pretty good."
"That's right, Grandpa. Meng was drooling over a pretty face again. You should really do something about her."
Xiao Hongchen looked visibly annoyed.
Jing Hongchen's expression stiffened—not because of Meng Hongchen's infatuation, but because of Huo Yuhao selling grilled fish.
For the past two months, he'd had a nagging feeling that he'd forgotten something. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't recall what it was.
Now, he finally remembered: Huo Yuhao had come to the Sun Moon Empire completely penniless.
If Jing Hongchen had remembered earlier, he absolutely would've provided the boy with a financial stipend—especially considering the high hopes he had for Huo Yuhao. Even if that weren't the case, the Empire always gave preferential treatment to defectors from the Star Luo, Heavenly Soul, and Dou Ling Kingdoms.
"This kid... studying so diligently for the past two months, and instead of coming to me when he was short on money, he chose to earn it on his own."
Jing Hongchen suddenly developed a deeper admiration for Huo Yuhao's character.
In reality, Huo Yuhao had simply forgotten he could ask Jing Hongchen for money at all.
"A fine young man indeed."
Jing Hongchen sighed in appreciation.
Meng Hongchen puffed her cheeks in dissatisfaction.
"Geez, Grandpa, what's so special about that Huo Yuhao? You let him in without an exam and keep singing his praises. But these past two months, he's been nothing more than a quiet, maybe slightly broke, ordinary student."
Xiao Hongchen didn't say anything, but his gaze carried a hint of discontent as well.
Jing Hongchen smiled helplessly and walked over to ruffle Meng's hair.
"Ah, Meng, that's only because you don't know him well enough."
He clasped his hands behind his back and walked to the window, gazing out toward the lower-grade teaching area.
"He might seem ordinary now, but your Grandpa's instincts are never wrong. They say 'a man of talent may lie dormant for years, but once he rises, he soars to the heavens.' Just you wait—he won't be quiet for much longer."
Right at that moment, the "quiet" Huo Yuhao was happily counting the money he'd earned from six hours of grilled fish sales in front of his dormitory.
"One copper coin... two copper coins..."
"One silver coin... two silver coins..."
"A total of 6.45 gold coins! Hahaha, this is insane!"
It wasn't a massive fortune, but after a few more days of this, he'd have enough to begin crafting soul tools.
As soon as the holiday ended, Huo Yuhao spent the money without hesitation on rare metals and brought them to the crafting station in his dorm.
Rubbing his hands together, he carefully picked out some of the cheapest rare metal: refined iron. Then he grabbed the standard-issue carving knife provided by the academy.
"This knife will do for now... but I really need to get my hands on a Spirit-Eater Carving Knife made of Life Gold."
He had a new idea for a core formation he'd been mulling over and was eager to test it out.
After mastering the combinations of base formations used in levels one through five soul tools, Huo Yuhao came up with a brand-new structure that could produce an entirely different effect.
He focused his soul power and started carving the formation into a polished sheet of refined iron.
The complexity of the formation exceeded his current soul power capabilities. But that wasn't a problem—his immense spiritual power, granted by Tianmeng, allowed him to manage it.
After some time, the formation was complete.
As the last stroke was finished, Huo Yuhao felt the refined iron establish a faint mental connection with him.
Excited, he adjusted his spiritual and soul power. To his delight, the refined iron responded to his will, flying around his dorm with precision.
"It worked!"
The idea he'd wanted to test was a success.
Using willpower to move objects wasn't unusual in a world of supernatural abilities.
But to have them fly smoothly with minimal consumption of spiritual and soul power—that was rare.
With his unique combination of advanced theoretical knowledge and exceptional spiritual power, Huo Yuhao pulled it off.
His inspiration came from floating cannons in sci-fi stories—powerful weapons that hovered midair and fired devastating volleys from all angles.
Just imagining an array of floating cannons under his control, raining destruction from the skies, made his blood boil.
"Forget flying swords. This is way cooler."
"But... there's still so much to solve. If I really want a swarm of floating cannons, I'll probably need to be at least a high-tier soul engineer."
Even the most basic floating cannon would require tackling numerous technical challenges.
With that in mind, Huo Yuhao perked up and returned to work on his experiments.
His goal was to produce a functional floating cannon unit as an extra credit item for his level-two soul engineer exam.
The night passed. Dawn broke.
Huo Yuhao was still at his desk, eyes bloodshot and ringed with dark circles, yet shining with excitement.
Beside him, the sack of rare metals was completely empty. On the table sat the prototype of a floating cannon, a level-two piercing cannon, and a small pile of scrap metal.
Stretching his arms, Huo Yuhao exhaled.
"Whew... finally done."
Originally, he'd wanted to combine the will-controlled refined iron with the piercing cannon to create a complete floating cannon unit.
But it hadn't worked. Too many issues cropped up, leaving him frustrated.
In the end, to earn back some of his investment, he made a single functional piercing cannon to sell.
(End of Chapter)
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